Comatose
by Leper Gnome
Summary: She tries to hate him...but knows she can't. [misleading title] BillyxMandy, I suppose


Mmm…about that title? Yah, rather misleading. Sorry about that. This won't be a big they-love-each-other-but-one-dies thing, it'll have a relatively happy ending. At least, I think it will. I never fully plan out my fics, unless they're gonna be chaptered, which I'm too scared to try….Anyway. This probably won't be as fluffy as the other two, because there's no big tragedy or humor to make it so. It'll be…Mandy's way of fluff. Nkay? Also, this is a futurefic, probably around sixteen again. So, enjoy.

**Comatose**

Mandy _hates_ white. With every fiber of her body, she hates it. Not the kind of off-white that is the color of Grim's bones; if that were the case, we would have been driven mad within the first month of having won his freedom in that bet that had taken place six years ago. What she hated was the pure, clean white that practically burned itself into your retinas for a few minutes after looking away. So what was she doing in a hospital waiting room? Of course, the burning white wasn't _everywhere_. It was simply that when she looked at the Van Gogh painting on the wall, the only place she could look without having to see the ripped covers of old magazines or people whining about problems in court(_why_ did that have to be on television, again?), the irritating, 150+ watt light was caught in her peripheral vision. Oh, how she wished she could tear the scythe from the grasp of the grim reaper sitting on the chair to her left and zap the light dead(and maybe tear up those damned magazines and smash the TV screen in, while she was at it). It would be easier to leave, but she couldn't do that….Why not?

Well, she certainly wasn't waiting in this cursed room for that idiotic _Billy_ to regain consciousness(or for the nurse to let her in without calling the police)for her own health.

This whole stupid thing was stupid Billy's fault. Why had his parents trusted him to get a driver's license? Of course, there was the matter of Billy passing the test in the first place, but that's another story for another time. No matter which way Mandy looked at the situation, her stubborn side always saw it to be Billy's fault that she was here. But, her more logical side reasoned, Billy hadn't been the driver that was drunk at the time.

Mandy's blanket of anger firmly believed that she was only there so she could make sure Billy was alright, then kill him. But why would she want to do that?

Outside of Mandy's awareness, emotions ran rampant, each one some form of stress. Anger toward that idiot drunk who had rammed into, at 80 miles an hour, the front of the car Billy was driving. Fear for Billy's life; the accident had happened hours ago, and it was normal for someone to take a long time to wake up after such an event, but her frightened side wished he would hurry. Impatience and affection mixed together; she just wanted to be there herself to make sure he was okay, and she wanted to be there now, but the doctors wouldn't let anyone see him. She'd tried to glare at them as fiercely as possible, but she was feeling—she shuddered at the thought of that word—so many different things, she couldn't center on her anger and put much into the glare.

And so, she wanted to kill Billy, or just do _something_ violent to him. Because she hated these feelings. She hated what he was doing to her. She hated everything at that moment…especially that light. She looked up to glare at it. It flickered.

**BxMBxMBxM**

Mandy groaned quietly and looked at the clock. It was nearly one in the morning, four and a half hours since they all had arrived here; Mandy, Grim, Mandy's parents, as well as Billy's. Mandy looked over at Grim. He was staring unwaveringly at the Van Gogh painting across the room. Normally, if you looked close enough, the skeleton's empty eye sockets had a sort of distant light in them. He was obviously dead, but the light was there, perhaps to show that he was still…there. But Mandy looked as hard into those sockets as she could without straining her eyes too hard, but the light was dimmer than she had ever seen it. Mandy understood. During the past several years, the reaper had grown sort of attached to Mandy and Billy. He was now almost protective of them, and sometimes he clutched them to his bony body in his sleep. For this to happen to Billy…it had affected Mandy the most, but Grim ran a close second.

A soft snore interrupted Mandy's thoughts. She turned to look at the source, and saw Billy's parents a few seats away from her and Grim. The snore had come from Gladys; she was asleep with her head back against the wall, tilted to the side slightly. Harold sat next to her, looking indifferent as he flipped through a TV guide. However, Mandy could tell his mind was on something else, since said TV guide was from eight weeks ago. Knowing which of Billy's parents Billy had inherited his intelligence from, Mandy couldn't be sure Harold was thinking only about his son, but he probably was. After all, even Billy worried about Mandy or Grim when they were in trouble, and Harold couldn't possibly have an IQ lower than Billy…or so Mandy hoped.

Another glance at the clock told that it was just past one o'clock. Mandy's parents would want to leave soon. Mandy scoffed inwardly; her parents didn't even want to be here. She knew how much they disliked Billy, but they never said anything in fear of invoking her wrath. Of course, Mandy wouldn't have minded so much now, but the fear was still there.

Mandy groaned again. She had never been the social type, but she wanted _someone_ to talk to! Even Irwin would have been suitable….But unfortunately, he and his family were on vacation, and nobody had felt like informing them of Billy's accident. Mandy felt a twinge of regret; Irwin was, after all, Billy's second best friend, and she felt that he deserved to know, dislike him as she did. But that matter was up to Billy's parents, and Mandy wanted to leave it to their judgment.

About a half hour passed, and, true to their nature, Mandy's parents began gathering their things. Mandy looked at them, and, feeling her stare, they faltered in their actions only slightly. Her mother looked at her, a smile plastered on her face. "Um, Mandy?...Sweetie, um…may we leave now?" she asked softly, her eyes darting about nervously. Mandy rolled her eyes, but rose anyway.

"Yeah," she sighed. "You coming, Grim?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, of course, Mandy," Grim blurted, rising as well.

Mandy rose an eyebrow. "You don't have to…"

"No, no, it's quite alright. We can come back after getting some sleep." Mandy still looked slightly disbelieving, but dropped it as she turned to Harold.

"You're gonna stay, right? Give us a call if anything happens." Harold nodded without looking up. Mandy still felt as though she needed to say something, but it wasn't easy coming out. "Ehm…Billy's Dad? Uhh…I'm…sorry about what happened to Billy. I think he'll be fine. Grim would've gotten a warning if…you know." Harold was still silent. "So…bye." Harold grunted as Mandy, Grim, and Mandy's parents filed out of the waiting room.

**BxMBxMBxM**

Mandy awoke with a start at the sound of the living room telephone a half a foot away from her ear. She'd went to sleep on the couch that night incase Harold and Gladys had any news about Billy. Apparently they did, she thought, since no one she knew would dare to call her house at—she glanced at the clock—five in the morning on a Sunday, unless they had a really, _really_ good reason.

She picked up the phone, panting slightly. "Hello?"

It was obviously Gladys calling, since the voice at the other end was shrill and tear-filled.

"Gladys?...Can you stop blubbering and talk?"

The other end was silent for a moment, supposedly as Gladys composed herself. "Well…Mandy…we just got word from the doctor…."

"…And?"

"Billy's gonna live!!" The tears(of joy)started again.

Mandy sighed, realizing she had been holding her breathe. "Is he awake now?"

"Yes, he just woke up about ten minutes ago. Are you going to co—"

Mandy had started to hang up as soon as Gladys had said yes.

"Grim!" she yelled up the stairs. "Grim! Get down here!" After a few moments, a drowsy-looking Grim appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Do you know what time it is, mon? If dis is to clean up after dat mutt of yours again—"

"Grim?! Do you remember anything about last night? The hospital? Billy?"

That woke Grim up. "Is 'e okay?"

"Just come on, Grim. We're going to the hospital."

**BxMBxMBxM**

Mandy burst through the hospital doors, marching up to the front desk. "What room is Billy in?" she demanded, putting both hands on the desk. The receptionist looked confused for a moment, but then looking down at a paper on the desk to her left.

"You're Mandy, correct? Yes, Gladys said you'd be coming—"

"That's great, but where's Billy?" Mandy had gotten more and more impatient on the walk to the hospital, and she didn't want to talk right now. The receptionist didn't look very happy about having been interrupted, but answered anyway. "Room 217, fifth floor." She handed Mandy a visitor's pass, and Mandy was walking as quickly as possible to the elevators.

The ride up seemed to last minutes, minutes she really didn't want to waste right now. She was vaguely aware of Grim beside her, but she was off again as soon as the elevator doors were half open, not bothering to wait for him.

Mandy skidded to a stop in front of room 217. The walls of the room were pale blue, and the curtains were drawn. It was lit rather dimly, as well, which seemed to erase some of Mandy's stress as she walked in. But that stress came back as soon as she saw _him_. Billy. The sight of him brought up her anger, despite how broken he looked. He was bandaged and had various tubes sticking out of him, but he still had his normal smile on.

"Billy's Mom. Billy's Dad…._Billy_," she said in greeting, narrowing her eyes slightly at the redheaded boy.

"Oh, hello, dear!...Um…" Gladys had looked genuinely happy to see Mandy, but her happiness faltered slightly at Mandy's expression. "Ehm….Well, I…see you'd like to talk to Billy…alone?" Mandy nodded once, then Gladys ran to hurriedly push Harold out of the room, grabbing Grim along the way. Luckily, the other bed in Billy's room was currently vacant.

Since Mandy had walked in, Billy's mouth had been hanging open, as he was unable to express his happiness that Mandy had come. He shouldn't have expected any less from his best friend, but he was elated all the same. "Mandy, you ca—"

"You jerk!!"

Billy blinked. "…Huh?"

"Don't you ever do that again, Billy! Do you know what you did to me?! You made me have all these stupid feelings, and you know how much I hate to have to have feelings like this! And why? Just because I can't turn my back for two minutes without you practically fricking killing yourself!"

"Mandy—"

"Don't you _dare_ interrupt me! I am so pissed at you…you're gonna let me talk!!"

Billy blinked again, and saw that he had no choice but to sit through Mandy's rant.

"Sometimes I wish I could hate you, Billy!! But I can't tell myself that I do, because then I get these disgusting feelings in me and I have to say that I don't hate you to make them leave me the hell alone!"

Billy began to get slightly frightened as Mandy began to stalk to his bed.

"You're just such an idiot!"

Suddenly, Mandy dropped down to her knees and took a hold around Billy's middle in a sort of death-grip hug. Leaning more towards death-grip, though.

"…Don't you ever do that to me again," Mandy whispered, burying her face in his side for a moment before pushing herself off of him, dragging a chair to his bedside, and sitting down in it. It took a few seconds for Billy's cheeks to flush as he realized what Mandy had just done. Then he realized how much her 'hug' had hurt him, though he had managed to ignore it while the actual hugging had been happening. Unfortunately, Mandy's display of 'affection' was not yet over, Billy realized, as she grasped his hand tightly in hers, squeezing so hard his fingers began to crack.

"Ehm...Mandy…you're breaking my fingers…."

"You deserve it," Mandy muttered. She'd wanted to kill Billy for putting her through this, but at the same time, she had to admit, she'd been worried sick, so now she was getting just what she wanted.

**Termino**

Hmm…something seems a little iffy, but…whatever. If there's any problem, you can just like uh review it to me…I'm tired. Are and Are, pleaseyahthanks…


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